Owning a home is a phenomenon which is mostly unique to the United Kingdom. Throughout the USA and most of Europe renting is the norm. Changes to the housing market over the past decade has made it virtually impossible for first time buyers to get onto the property ladder and now it has been forecast that the next generation may never own their own property.
With tighter controls over mortgages, the average first-time buyer will need to find close to £30,000 for a deposit which is £20,000 more than it was at the turn of the century. This is why a generation look set to spend their entire lives living in a home protected by landlord insurance. New research shows that although 78% of all non-homeowners still dream of buying, many feel they will never get a chance to do so, and almost half of the 20 to 45 year-olds who took part in the research think that the United Kingdom is slowly following Europe in regards to renting being the norm.
Stephen Ludlow, director of an estate and letting agent, said “Young people find it very tough to get on the property ladder. Many are now opting to wait out the mortgage famine by renting for longer in a property they like. One legacy of the credit crunch could be that the UK housing market moves closer to the European model, where longer lets are seen as the norm. Demand for longer lets has leapt in the past few months. Two or three year contracts used to be a tiny part of the market but now they are much more widespread.”
The report was produced by the National Centre for Social Research who analysed the data of 8000 people aged between 20 and 45. The results showed that a large number of tenants are moving to more select properties as they realise they will be renting for a longer period than they originally planned.